Politics

Texas GOP Rep. Pat Fallon blames mass shootings on ‘overuse’ of smartphones, ‘erosion of faith’

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Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) this week linked mass shootings to “the overuse” of “dang smartphones.”

At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Fallon rejected the call for new gun regulations following the recent mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

“Guns have always been readily available in this country but mass shootings and particularly mass shootings of schools were non-existent or extremely rare until they became a grisly recent phenomenon,” he told the committee.

“So what’s changed in the last 50 years?” Fallon asked. “There’s been a noticeable breakdown of the family, there’s been an erosion of faith and there’s been a seismic drop in social interaction in large measure due to the overuse of these dang smartphones and the proliferation of social media, which is probably better described as anti-social media.”

Fallon claimed passing gun laws doesn’t work and listed out what he called “real solutions.”

“We must harden our schools with controlled access and single point-of-entry with a tiered entry procedure,” he said. “The main office should be located directly by the front door, which is single-access entry. Classroom doors should automatically shut and lock like hotel rooms do.” 

Fallon also called for school teachers and volunteers to be trained and armed through school marshal programs, increasing the number of school resource officers on campuses, adding more cameras to schools, and training rapid response teams to address threats.

“Our goal should be to protect our children,” Fallon said. “No parent, educators, citizen legislature or nation has a higher calling. Let’s look at real and effective solutions and shelve the divisive rhetoric because American children deserve nothing less.”

Herschel Walker, a GOP U.S. Senate candidate in Georgia made similar comments. “What about getting a department that can look at young men that’s looking at women that looking at social media,” he said.

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH 

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE 

PHOTO CREDITS: CHRON.COM

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